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Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Darrius catches sight of the boy and with a few quick steps moves to put himself on the other side of the boy from Celiss. He doesn't intend to harm the kid, but he's ready to catch him if the boy tries to run.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

S15: Darrius catches sight of the boy and with a few quick steps moves to put himself on the other side of the boy from Celiss. He doesn't intend to harm the kid, but he's ready to catch him if the boy tries to run.

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You had to do a 15' move to do the 'move around,' meaning you have no readied action. However, you do take a standard action to suppress the electricity on your gauntlets.

S12: The boy sees Celiss getting ready to knock him down and he gets very defense while trying to bolt past her. It's not enough though, and Celiss was more than ready to easily bowl the boy over, ruining his move action.

"Help! Help! I'm being attacked!" he cries.

S11.9: Korian pounces on the boy, holding him down and shutting his mouth with his scary claws.

Round One ...

R1T22: Vakrissa puts her scythe's inward curve on the boy's ankle and says, "If you yell or struggle anymore, I shall hobble you ... and you can't be a good pickpocket if you are discovered and cannot run away."

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Celiss frowns, considering their options. If this is just a pickpocket, we should just bring him to the watch, right? Then again, he might be connected to the Lotus Dragons. She says, crossing her arms.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Rabbi Eliezer reaches into his purse while he says to the rest of you, "He has no tattoo. He might have a connection, but here is another way. And if he is sent to the watch and he is not connected, justice may well be too harsh if he was merely hungry."

He takes out a gold crown and puts it in the boys hand. A mere look from him and Korian lets the boy go while Vakrissa takes her scythe away.

The boy is stunned and slowly gets up.

Lazer looks at him. "You are a terrible thief, to have been so detected and caught. Perhaps you should seek honest work. Go, spend wisely, and do not steal again."

The boy goes darting to the side and down an alleyway.

Lazer stops anyone from pursuing. "Don't follow. If he is just a thief, our business is done. If he was a setup for a trap, then we will not take the bait, but may well have turned the boy to a better path than the one he was pursuing. Justice is not about jail."

The party continues on to the Taxidermist's Guildhall. Lazer will put light on Vakrissa's scythe and Celiss' shortsword. The party goes down. Instead of taking a different direction, Lazer recommends exhausting the known path you made first, then backtracking. You get back to the room where the rotting zombie's remains lie. The other door ... no sounds, no traps. The door is opened.

The space beyond the doorway is a 5pw going to the left (the front and right side is the far end of the 5pw. The 5pw is 20' long, going north before turning east. It goes only 5' to the east before turning north again, but the east turn shows a door (while there is a door on the west side of where it goes north.

Lazer has Vakrissa listen at the door on the south of the eastern step of the 5pw. Nothing. He has Darrius check the door for traps. Nothing, and the door is not locked. The door is opened.

The room beyond steps south into a 5 x 5 alcove before the whole room goes east (15' N-S x 10' E-W, not counting alcove). The opulence of this chamber's decor is a bit jarring. The smooth plaster walls are painted violet. Delicately crafted silver lanterns flicker softly on the wall, lighting the room. A shelf to the north holds several books, statuettes, stuffed animals, a crystal ball with a smoky red light at its core, and two coffers; one of darkwood and one of iron decorated with tiny jade bats. A five-foot-wide landscape of Sasserine hangs on the eastern wall, yet all of the ships in the harbor fly flags depicting a serpentine dragon coiled around a lotus. A pair of overstuffed chairs sits beside a low table heaped with fruit and bottles of wine. To the south stands a lone wooden cupboard. The floor itself is adorned with a thick, deep purple carpet. An open door to the south leads to what appears to be a bedroom.

There is a beautiful red-haired woman relaxing in one of the chairs, looking at the party. Standing to the side is a bright-eyed and hungry-looking monster, a dinosaur-like dragon with green scales and a bright yellow crest on its head. The woman rises as Vakrissa enters (who was put in the lead this time), followed by Darrius. Celiss is able to fill to the right of Vakrissa, and Lazer gets to her left. Darrius is there in the alcove, and poor Korian is still outside.

The woman regards the party with an appraising eye. "You must be Lavinia's flunkies," she says. "I'd like to offer you a job. You obviously are tough in a fight. How would you like to work for me instead of Lavinia. You've cracked the power of my guild, but I have the money to rebuild it. And with you working for me? The Lotus Dragons would be stronger than ever before."

There is nothing that sounds like a lie from her offer; it appears legitimate. The woman is a beautiful human with long red hair tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes sparkle like chips of green jade, and she moves with an unsettling grace. On one shoulder she wears a tattoo of a lotus, while on the other is an intricate dragon tattoo, its tail coiling down her left arm.

You actually recognize this creature ... and how! This must be the 'small dragon' that Nemien mentioned. It is of the dragon family, and it is a crested felldrake. The creature is found in Monster Manual II, on page 98. Feel free to absorb the entire writeup, for you know as much as can be known about these otherwise noble sentinels of elven encampments barring elves themselves. They are size Small, are immune to sleep and paralysis, have a ferocious bite, and thick scales.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Celiss wonders to herself what other House this woman might belong to, but decides to look further into the matter(that is, last names vs House names in Sasserine) before making comments.

Considering the situation carefully, Celiss frowns. This woman is alone, apart from her pet-or so it seemed. She probably had invisible allies of some sort with her, allies waiting to burst in from hidden doors or some other surprise for them. The fact that her pet would probably be quite a thread for them in melee in addition to whatever sort of challenge it would be to defeat her along made Celiss slightly nervous about the situation. Your offer certainly sounds interesting, although if we were to join I'd prefer having more knowledge of what you actually do-for all we know, you could be fanatical collectors of obscure types of potatoes or players of an incredibly obscure board game that think that it contains a secret prophecy about the destruction of the world. The mage-monk says, one eyebrow raised. I have the feeling that my compatriots feel the same way. She adds, crossing her arms.

OOC:

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I'm not sure about this, but I'm thinking that there might be something(bluff? sense motive for them?) I need to do to get a sort of "let's see what information we can get from her" message across to the others.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

"I am Rowyn Kellani of House Kellani," she says proudly. "I intend to have the Lotus Dragons rise from base smuggling and thievery to control all of shipping and crime in the City of Sasserine. If that means that it requires a game piece carved out of potato to play Parchisi to postpone the Apocalypse of this Prime plane, then more power to us."

As she speaks, she moves to the southeast corner to pour herself a drink. The dragon thingy simply stays where it is at the northeast corner. The only open space in the room is the square between them.

Celiss

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Crested Felldrakes are normally Small ... but this one is Medium sized!

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Darrius listens to Rowyn and for a few moments he pauses to consider her offer. He contemplates the rise to true power that the guild might have, what luxuries might be afforded to them in exchange for a little blood and liberation of assets from the ones more fortunate. His gauntlets spark in blue-white flares as he goes over it again in his head, and then they go out.

He shakes his head, "No, Rowyn, I don't believe I like your offer. Can you even see where it is that your guild is headed? I can see, my lovely, the stacks of bodies you'll have to tally. I can see, my dear, the gallons of blood to fill your goblets with trinkets of magic to turn it to wine. The kids, he was from ye, wasn't he? No concern for the youth of our city. I might not like authority, and I might have a fairly good hand when it comes to taking lives, but you talk of madness in the streets as you slit throats for power and sends kids to lure the righteous to doom. No, I think your way is not the best way, miss Kellani. Surrender to us and we'll find a way that doesn't involve rivers of blood."

lostsole only

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Yeah, I'm inclined to agree, lostsole. (I can't get my email to open a Reply or a Compose right now, so a full discussion will likely have to wait. I'm still half sick out of my brain. Spent all day in bed. >.<) The Big G it is, with maybe a little C on weekends so long as nobody comes to harm. XD I never could get a good feel for the C, so lets chalk that up to a lingering rebellious phase that is now going to way of the dodo. >.>

If it goes to G, would that mean anything for the right now (such as a temporary power loss), or more on towards the future?

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Rowyn says, "Very well. My employees might be thugs because they have little recourse to do otherwise. I will kill you now, but please take this time to cast any preparatory spells, take out preferred equipment, and the like. I expect the same courtesy."

"Wait," says Lazer, "where is Vanthus?"

"I'm sorry," Rowyn chides, "information was not part of the bargain."

"Very well, Rowyn Kellani," pronounces Rabbi Cohen. "We will kill you if we must. But know that I will do what I can to save your life at battle's end, that you may be taken to answer for your crimes properly.

"Vanderborians," he continues, "she has given us this opportunity; let's take it. Let us make what preparations we will. Vakrissa, take center. Korian, stay back in reserve. Darrius, and your soul spark, on the lizard. Celiss, you face off on Rowyn directly. Don't anyone get in that space they left open between them. I don't doubt that she has some of her minions' training in flanking.

"Celiss, wand of mage armor on all of us ... even though it will only do a little bit extra good, that's good we may need. I don't know if she's a real warrior, or just a clever one. Try to take her down fast by knocking the wind out of her."

"Darrius, boosting your pelt to hide takes precious time. I leave it to your judgement as to how to balance your pauldrons, gauntlets, and soulspark. Might as well use the gauntlets over a dagger, son."

"Vakrissa, I don't know your spells. Protection is best."

"I'll give extra protection on the front three, but that diminishes my healing. I'll lead my part in the battle with the wand."

Celiss, do you pop a mage armor on everybody, and cast shield on yourself? Anything else besides one hand short sword and another open? or, do you have another suggestion?

Darrius, keep current essentia setup ... with one hand holding shield and other open with gauntlets?

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Celiss nods, drawing the wand and relaying the mental command that would begin the casting of the spell if she were doing so. Instead, the energy of the wand is what flows over her and her comrades, protecting them with fields of force that take the place of mundane armor.

Next, the mage-monk sends a pulse of magic energy over herself, intoning words of arcane power and slamming her palms together after intricate movements that released the supernatural energy from its former bonded form into a released state, one that would protect her from attacks.

Celiss draws her sword as her final preparation, feeling a measure of comfort in the familiar feeling of the weapon in her hand.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Meanwhile, Lazer casts protection from evil on Vakrissa, Darrius, and Celiss. Vakrissa casts two spells on herself (barskin & bull's strength). She then concentrates as a shimmering field of force wavers briefly - not unlike a shield spell to Celiss at all, but without any components (material, verbal, somatic). SLA, maybe? Neither Celiss nor Darrius know for sure.

Rowyn doesn't cast any spells. She simply takes her masterwork rapier in one hand, sets her buckler on her left arm. With her buckler arm, she takes out her masterwork crossbow, with a gooey-substance-coated bolt already knocked.

She nods for things to begin.

It is the split-second before fighting breaks out. The gunfighter stare begins ... Celiss with Rowyn, and Darrius with the felldrake. Celiss, Darrius, do you try to outstare them and show your true grit, or do you simply not deal with such bravado and tomfoolery?

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This is not time to declare actions, this is a split-second (or several, non-round-counting) gunfighter glare, that's all.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Darrius ignores the glare, already looking for openings in the stance of the woman and her pet. Meanwhile, Celiss never did learn how to manifest what some martial artists refer to as 'warrior spirit.' She is glared down before she even readies herself.

Rowena sighs and looks with regret and looks to her pet. "Gut Tugger! Do your thing!"

R1T19: Gut Tugger launches with surprising reflexes at Darrius, who is totally off-guard. The creature seems to know just where it hurts as it bites - with a mouth of teeth that are longer and stronger than expected - right into Darrius' shoulder for 24 mod damage. The man's collarbone and shoulder crack and his lung is punctured as he drops. Gut Tugger then steps forward to straddle the fallen hero, and now threatens Vakrissa from her side and Lazer.

R1T15:Celiss, you feel uneasy fighting the likes of Rowyn, and Darrius was dropped from a single bite. It has a big row of teeth and is strong, but it seems a lot of that damage was from 'dirty fighting.' Lazer is still in range for a healing/stabilize spell to Darrius. You have Rowyn in front of you; empty space forward-left (where Lazer originally told you to clear); Vakrissa to your left; Lazer rear-left of you; empty space behind you; a wall to all right squares. What do you do?

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Celiss, worried by Darrius' sudden fall, shifts her stance to a far more defensive one than normal, taking a single stab at her enemy with her sword, the awkward angle of her attack causing its accuracy to suffer greatly.

Actions:

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Fighting Defensively. AC 29.

Attack: (1d20+1)[7]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]

OOC:

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Before fighting, Celiss cast Shield on herself, although I didn't mention it in a note on the post. I did the necessary modifications of the sheet to include that.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

R1T15: Celiss, worried by Darrius' sudden fall, shifts her stance to a far more defensive one than normal, taking a single stab at her enemy with her sword, the awkward angle of her attack causing its accuracy to suffer greatly.

R1T8: Vakrissa, seeing the terrible power and strength of Gut Tugger, slashes with her scythe but misses.

R1T7.9: Darrius' soulspark fires at Gut Tugger but misses.

R1T7: Celiss, Rowyn goes to shoot you with her masterwork hand crossbow (held in her buckler hand). She does so with an extremely keen eye for defense, but it still opens her up for an AOO. You stab again, far better this time, but her rapier blocks it away. Her focus on defending against you doesn't help her against Vakrissa's scythe which hits Rowyn in the right shoulder for 12 damage. Her attack isn't stopped, though, as the small bolt misses critting you in the elbow and you only take 1 damage.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

Celiss stays on the defensive, hoping to simply wear down her opponent rather than risk being dropped like Darrius was. This time the blade has a better angle, and Celiss hopes that she can hit her thus far elusive opponent.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

R2T15: Celiss stays on the defensive, hoping to simply wear down her opponent rather than risk being dropped like Darrius was. This time the blade has a better angle, and Celiss hopes that she can hit her thus far elusive opponent, but Rowyn simply makes a slight adjustment to move entirely out of the way.

R2T8: Vakrissa recognizes Gut Tugger for the extreme threat he is. She aerobatically gets 5' altitude without him getting an opening, fights with strategy (CE2), and then attacks but her scythe is knocked aside by the felldrake's scales.

R2T7:"Excellent," says Rowyn. "You are as tough as you aren't beautiful, and at least as tough as you look. You took that poison like a salve of aloe leaf. So at least the gods weren't wholly unkind to you."

She drops her masterwork hand crossbow on the deck, pulls out a wand from her belt with her buckler arm, and then says, "Let us see if there is a part of you that is more reasonable, hmmm?"

She points the wand at you, Celiss, and she says, "Tell you what, worthy warrior ... help me defeat your less wise fellows here, and I shall save your friend's life. I shall support your combat and wizardly arts with the best teachers and the quiet sponsorship of a more highly placed noble house. Heck, I'm not even asking you to kill them ... just help me defeat them. If this latter is more to your liking, then I at least promise that I shall not kill them."

Celiss, roll a Will saving throw vs a DC of 12, or be affected by a charm person spell.

Re: The Savage Tide [IC]

R3T15: Celiss shrugs. "I'm hoping that that will happen after we finish this battle, as opposed to during," she says, lowering her defense to try a punch-kick combo on her enemy. Rowyn bats the fist away with her rapier and avoids the kick.

R3T8: Vakrissa continues using tactical defense (CE2) and attacks so that her scythe smacks hard against Gut Tugger, but stopped by its respectable scales.